When we see people dying from famine, our instinct justifiably is to get food there immediately. However, as I observed in Kenya recently, supply trucks were driving through famine areas to get to Sudanese refugee camps hundreds of miles away. When the starving people along the road stopped a truck and took the food, the organization demanded military protection. I can understand the fear of a starving mob and I can understand the fear of starving. Both parties are a part of the same humanitarian disaster and we all need to work together for a sustainable future.
As water resources become more critical, the value of it increases. When the market value is perceived to be higher than the cost, ownership of the resource becomes strategic. When this occurs, fighting becomes more common as ownership becomes wealth and power. If we ebb into this realm, mass migrations will become more commonplace and crisis situations will spin out of control. Therefore, access to a sustainable supply of water may remove the perceived strategic value and stem the tide of climate related migrations.
Once water is available to a drought induced crisis situation a Sustainable Agrarian Solution can be considered. However, land availability is still needed to establish self sustaining sustenance mechanisms. In some cases, revitalizing grazing land could offer the most short term benefit as goats and cows that supply milk and cheese add synergistic value to the situation. Mutual benefit arrangements could also offer a share of the whole in agriculture, aquaculture, husbandry, manufacturing and services. Thus water is the foundation for any sustainable solution.
